organizational planning

Action Plan
The theory of human motivation developed by Maslow (1943) and the associated hierarchy of needs can be of use in terms of facilitating both organizational change and conflict management. Maslow’s theory was that every individual has needs that have to be met before that person can become self-actualized. The basic ground floor of needs consists of food, shelter, and security. Next come the social needs: esteem, love and friendship. Finally, self-determination can be achieved once the individual no longer requires external inputs to be motivated. In other words, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations can help individuals climb the ladder up the needs hierarchy to achieve self-actualization—but those motivations must be tailored individualistically to accommodate individual workers, because every worker will be different (Gerhart & Fang, 2015).
With that in mind, the action plan to promote effective organizational change with an emphasis on conflict management policy for my organization has as its main goal the fostering of cohesiveness, communication, and dedication. Using the Kotter 8 Step change model, which is helpful in overcoming resistance and barriers to change (Hornstein, 2015), this action plan can be implemented effectively according to the following steps:
1) Create a sense of urgency
2) Create a guiding coalition
3) Create a vision for change
4) Communicate the vision
5) Remove obstacles
6) Create short-term wins
7) Consolidate improvements
8) Anchor the changes
The Kotter model is essentially an expansion of the Lewin change model, which Manchester et al. (2014) showed can be augmented through a collaborative approach to bring about the desired change. The Kotter model makes collaboration a necessary step in the process of organizational change—and since one of the goals of my change process is to enhance and increase communication, collaboration is and must be an important part of the process.
The first step is to create a sense of urgency within my company so as to make everyone aware of the need for the change. The goals should be specifically stated so that everyone knows what the purpose of the change is. To make the case that there is a need for change, a good argument has to be developed: in our case, I would point out that after internal review, a lack of cohesiveness, communication and dedication in our department has been identified as the cause for missed objectives over the past year.
Following the establishment of a sense of urgency, it is necessary to create a guiding coalition—a team through which members of the department can collaborate to help achieve the aims of the change while minimizing conflict. This is achieved by discussing with workers what their needs are and how we can overcome obstacles. The more that everyone is involved in the process, and the more that individual needs are understood, the better we can motivate everyone, according to Maslow’s theory, and provide the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators that Gerhart and Fang (2015) identify as being so crucial to attaining organizational goals.
The change then must be communicated to all: I would have to define it clearly and the pathways that have been selected for achieving it. Concretely, this would consist of pairing individuals together who are in need of setting aside issues so that they can learn to get together better, in accordance with the recommendation of Guchait, Lei and Tews (2016). This would facilitate the development of communication and cohesiveness. Next is the process of putting each worker in the position of supervisor so that they can learn dedication and reinforce communication skills development, in accordance with the recommendation of Rahim, Antonio and Psenicka (2001).
This would help to remove potential obstacles and allow short-term wins to be celebrated. Every time there is a breakthrough in communication or a more cohesive demonstration of collaboration in the department, the victory will be celebrated to bring unity and dedication to the group and further promote a positive spirit. Then by consolidating the improvements and anchoring the changes, the change process can be completed and what would essentially become a new workplace culture will be firmly developed.
Conflict will be managed by including all stakeholders in the process at every step of the way. As Cross (2001) points out, the change process has to be managed in order for results to be managed. In other words, the more that stakeholders are involved in the development and implementation of the change process, the more invested they are likely to be. They will feel that their concerns and inputs are being used to help guide the change process and they will begin to feel that the change is not being done to them so much as they are effecting the change upon the organization. This gives them a sense of ownership in the change and helps to reduce the rise of conflict among workers who do not like to see things take a different course. Giving them the keys, so to speak, to the process is a step towards providing them with the support needed to become self-actualized workers.
Personal strategies for managing conflict and how I would incorporate them into these processes would be to employ my emotional, social and culture intelligence, all three of which can be used to identify needs of workers, demonstrate empathy, and provide support. I would also strive to boost the esteem of workers so that they can become one step closer to achieving self-actualization and thereby motivating themselves to achieve the organizational goals identified at the beginning of the organizational change process. Making sure that workers feel appreciated is part and parcel of achieving the organizational change aims.
Priorities that public managers and employees must possess throughout the change processes include putting the goals of the organization first. This requires that managers and employees be willing to recognize the needs of the company while uniting to give that company the support required of them to ensure that the objectives are achievable. Maslow’s theory applies to the firm just as it does to the individual—but it requires a manager with the ability to communicate the vision to workers to help kickstart the process. The manager should be skilled in developing a sense of transformational leadership style so that the right combination of visionary expression, supportive demonstrations, and dedication to the virtues required of the workers can be accomplished. With this style of leadership, the manager can truly make an impact on the workers and help bring about the desired changes that can foster better communication, cohesiveness, and dedication among the workers.
Summary
This action plan uses the theory of human motivation and the hierarchy of needs developed by Maslow (1943) as well as the change model theories of Lewin and Kotter, both of which are similar in the sense that they involve establishing a need for change among the workers and then taking concrete steps to implement that change and freeze it in place so that obstacles and resistance do not undermine the process (Manchester et al., 2014). In order to facilitate change and achieve the organizational goals of improving communication, cohesion and dedication among workers, identifying the needs of the workers and applying intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, in accordance with the recommendations of Gerhart and Fang (2015) are included in the change management process.
The eight steps of the Kotter model that are used in this action plan are: 1) Create a sense of urgency; 2) Create a guiding coalition; 3) Create a vision for change; 4) Communicate the vision; 5) Remove obstacles; 6) Create short-term wins; 7) Consolidate improvements; and 8) Anchor the changes. Following these steps can reduce the risk of conflict occurring among the workers and help the department to overcome obstacles and resistance to change. Conflict is managed by the application of the manager’s emotional, social and cultural intelligence skills, as well as by the development of the appropriate leadership style, which in this case would be transformational leadership. Transformational leadership helps a leader to communicate the vision of what the workers should be like and how they can move towards that goal. The leader then can provide support be interacting with the workers, getting to know their needs, providing for their individual needs, and giving them everything they need to be motivated towards accomplishing the tasks that will help the organizational to be successful.
References
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Manchester, J., Gray-Miceli, D. L., Metcalf, J. A., Paolini, C. A., Napier, A. H., Coogle,
C. L., & Owens, M. G. (2014). Facilitating Lewin’s change model with collaborative evaluation in promoting evidence based practices of health professionals. Eval Program Planning, 47, 82-90.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370.
Rahim, M. A., Antonio, D., & Psenicka, C. (2001). A Structural Equations Model of
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